On Saturday, during Berlin’s Christopher Street Day, one of Europe’s biggest LGBTQ+ Pride events, a 21-year-old religious extremist drove a van into the crowd and then used a knife to stab multiple people. One person died and 29 others were injured.

When I saw this news on social media, I sincerely felt scared, and not because one more bigot used his religion to justify violence against people like me. It has, unfortunately, happened too often. Despite being happy to see the overwhelming support for the queer community and the condemnation of terrorism, I was terrified by the wave of Islamophobic and anti-immigrant statements that came even from “left” and “progressive” people who should know better, who generally support refugees, who know that all people are equal, and that you shouldn’t treat others as less human because of their religion.

In 2020, a Russian MP threatened to start a criminal case against me after I interviewed Muslim women about why they called themselves feminists and wrote about my own relationship with feminism and Islam, mentioning that I was following events in Syria and had read some academic books on the Islamic State. Surprisingly, the MP claimed that I was recruiting women to ISIS by using feminist ideas, which, of course, was absolutely ridiculous for many reasons, including the fact that I was an openly nonbinary transgender person. But some media outlets and queer people online, including those who called themselves progressive, refused to support me or believed the lie. This is what an anti-extremist witchhunt looks like. If I had been in Russia, and not in the UK, I probably would have been in prison.

It is extremely important to oppose extremism by knowing the actual facts about terrorist groups and not starting a moral panic.

Here are four examples of what media coverage and queer people online often misunderstand about the events in Berlin, and why it’s important.

1. Islam is not the problem

Despite a common misunderstanding, this terrorist act wasn’t even about Islam. 

Islam, just like Christianity and Judaism, has a variety of views on LGBTQ+ rights, from affirmative to condemning. I think everyone in the American Bible Belt has met Christian fundamentalists who praised violence against LGBTQ+ people or used violence against their own queer children, so it is a universal problem. But the thing is Abdul Ballout was not an ordinary conservative Muslim. He was known for wanting to join ISIS. It is an apocalyptic cult that teaches that we are living in the last era, so they are trying to re-create the caliphate that they believe should be restored before Doomsday. 

Most of the Muslim people I know, including conservative Salafi Muslims, see the group as dangerous criminals, or don’t see the group as a Muslim group at all. The vast majority of ISIS victims are not Western people or queer people, but cisgender heterosexual Muslims in the Middle East and Africa who the group considers to be infidels. ISIS is widely condemned by Muslim communities and scholars, and blaming Islam for the actions of cult members is like blaming Christianity and all Christians — or even all Christian fundamentalists — for the actions of Branch Davidians members or for the mass murder-suicide committed by members of the People’s Temple.

2. Refugees are not the problem — and Germany is not a safe haven for refugees

First, the attacker was a German citizen. But the media continue to blame migration. Germany is seen as a safe haven for refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S., the UK and beyond. But the time when Germany was safe is long gone. For refugees from Russia between 2022 and 2025 alone, around 90 percent of refugee claims have been refused by Germany, including the claims of political prisoners. The situation for non-White Muslim refugees is even worse, especially in regions such as Bavaria.

I have personal experience working with some refugees in Germany who are also Muslim. The way the migration service mistreated them is beyond anything I saw while working with refugees and being a refugee in the UK. I saw cases in Germany where an asylum seeker’s family was threatened back home because of social media posts the asylum seeker had made, or where a person was detained and sent back to their homeland despite having a history of persecution and torture by the government. Very often, when a person is taken by the immigration service, their loved ones don’t know where they are. Queer refugees also report homophobic and transphobic attitudes in the system.

The narrative that Germany is too generous to refugees was created by the far right and has little to do with reality, and it harms actual refugees, including queer refugees, by silencing their voices.

3. There is no collective responsibility

It is an extremely old and dangerous idea.

Just as all gay men shouldn’t be blamed for what the American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer did just because he was gay; we shouldn’t blame all Muslims, all people of Middle Eastern origin, or any other large demographic group for the crime of one terrorist. Even if the terrorist had been a refugee and a Muslim, it shouldn’t actually matter, because under the law in any modern non-authoritarian country, an individual shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of their social group.

After all, when a white, Christian, cisgender, heterosexual, neurotypical person commits a crime, it is almost always seen as an individual’s fault. Why is it different for marginalized groups? The idea of collective responsibility harmed the gay community for decades and is harming the trans community right now, for example after Charlie Kirk’s murder. The best thing we can do is stop this narrative, because it will be used against us.

The only reason I explained about ISIS and the refugee experience in Germany is to show how far from reality the popular accusations are.

4. Witch-hunts and scapegoating serve the far-right agenda and are extremely anti-queer

From my own experience, as an openly trans person speaking against Islamophobia, sexism and queerphobia who was accused of supporting the cult that kills queer people, promotes the sexual exploitation of women and sees the majority of Muslims as legitimate targets, I can say for sure that moral panic can go wild.

People who remember the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, or even the attacks on Muslim communities after Sept. 11, should know this.

Now even queer people are attacking refugees and Muslim communities online while the German government is introducing more draconian measures against those groups.

ILGA-Europe, the biggest LGBTQ+ organization in Europe, made a statement warning against any attempt to weaponize the attack. 

“This tragedy must not be used to fuel hatred against migrants, foreigners or Muslim communities. We reject any attempt by anti-democratic actors to exploit what happened to divide communities, scapegoat minorities or turn one group against another,” Chaber, the group’s executive director, said. “LGBTI people must not be instrumentalized to spread hatred against others, nor should the existence of racism, Islamophobia or anti-migrant hatred be used to minimize the threats faced by LGBTI people. The rights, safety, and dignity of all people must be defended.”

People who live at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities — LGBTQ+ Muslims, LGBTQ+ people of color and LGBTQ+ refugees — will probably suffer the most from this moral panic. Moreover, these are the same political groups that target refugees, Muslim communities and queer people. If this hatred isn’t stopped now, everyone is potentially at risk. 

Condemning terrorism is important, but it is no less important to stop creating more victims.

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in Amsterdam from Aug. 5-10.

Queen Máxima on July 25 participated in this year’s World Pride opening ceremony in Amsterdam.

The Dutch monarch joined Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema at the ceremony that took place in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. Several drag queens also participated in the event.

🌈 Koningin Máxima opent WoldPride 2026 in het Vondelpark in Amsterdam. Het evenement vraagt wereldwijdaandacht voor de zichtbaarheid, emancipatie en mensenrechten van de LGBTQIA+-gemeenschap. Koningin Máxima bezoekt de Sport Pride en de Youth Pride.⁰https://t.co/eXdHJYQX2R pic.twitter.com/wNkjvaTkHY

— Koninklijk Huis (@koninklijkhuis) July 25, 2026

World Pride will take place in Amsterdam through Aug. 10.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who is openly gay, is scheduled to open the World Pride Human Rights Conference on Aug. 5.

Halsema on Sunday told reporters that authorities will bolster security measures “where necessary” in response to the terrorist attack at Berlin’s annual Pride march the day before that left one person dead and 29 others injured.

At least one person died on Saturday when a van drove into a crowd at Berlin’s annual Pride march.

The incident took place shortly before 10 p.m. local time (1 p.m. PT) in Tiergarten park.

Authorities say a 21-year-old German man of Lebanese descent who tried to join the Islamic State drove the van into the crowd. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Sunday told reporters during a press conference the suspect also attacked people with a machete.

Dobrint said the suspect injured 29 people — with some of them in critical condition.

He and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed authorities are investigating the attack as “an Islamist terrorist attack.” Officers killed the suspect in the Berlin suburb of Spandau on Sunday after he reportedly charged at them with a knife.

A memorial service and rally took place in Berlin on Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of people participate in the annual Christopher Street Day parade — which is one of Europe’s largest Pride events — that winds its way through Berlin.

Tiergarten is near June 17 Street and the Brandenberg Gate where post-parade parties and concerts take place. Authorities cancelled the remaining Pride events after Saturday’s attack.

“We strongly condemn the fatal attack at the Christopher Street Day celebration in Berlin,” said the U.S. Embassy in Germany on Sunday. “This attack undermines the fundamental values of freedom and respect which underpin open and democratic societies. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the first responders.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are among those who condemned the attack.

“It is difficult for us to put into words the shock and grief of the queer community,” said Alva Träbert of Federation Queer Diversity, a German LGBTQ+ and intersex rights group known by the acronym LSVD, on Sunday in a statement. “Our solidarity goes out to all the victims and their families. The community’s grief now needs space to be expressed. This act, which according to the current state of the investigation was motivated by Islamist extremism, is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We owe our thanks and deep respect to the entire Berlin Pride team for their organization and to the emergency services for their swift assistance.”

Träbert added the attack “was not directed at a party, but at a political demonstration for the human rights of LGBTQIA+ people” and was “also an attack on democratic values themselves.” Träbert also urged the German government in the wake of the attack to do more to protect LGBTQ+ and intersex Germans.

Dutch authorities to ‘take extra measures’ during World Pride in Amsterdam

The attack took place on the same day that World Pride began in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema on Sunday said authorities will “take extra measures … where necessary” during the event and the city’s annual Pride, which will take place on Aug. 1. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who is gay, on social media said he expressed his condolences to Merz.

“The horrific act of aggression last night at the Pride in Berlin is a direct attack on our free and tolerant society,” said Jetten on X.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones,” he added. “In these difficult times, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our German neighbors.”

The 2026 International AIDS Conference will take place next week in Rio de Janeiro.

Francisco Ruiz, the former director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima are among those scheduled to speak at the conference that will take place in the Brazilian city from July 26-31. Other scheduled speakers include Spanish Health Secretary Javier Padilla, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, South African Deputy Health Minister Mathume Joseph “Joe” Phaahla, and Alexus D’Marco of the United Caribbean Trans Network.

The International AIDS Society-organized AIDS 2026’s theme is “Rethink. Rebuild. Rise.”

AIDS 2026 will take place against the backdrop of U.S. funding cuts that have significantly impacted the global HIV/AIDS fight.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly after the Trump-Vance administration took office issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during a freeze on nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending. HIV/AIDS service providers around the world with whom the Los Angeles Blade has spoken say PEPFAR cuts and the loss of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which officially closed on July 1, 2025, has severely impacted their work.

The International AIDS Society in a press release it issued on Tuesday noted PEPFAR “has saved more than 26 million lives” since President George W. Bush implemented it in 2003, “and changed the trajectory of the HIV pandemic.”

“PEPFAR was a success under the first Trump administration, with major progress toward the 95-95-95 goals,” it said.

The UNAIDS’s 95-95-95 goals are 95 percent of people with HIV knowing their status, 95 percent of people with HIV having access to antiretroviral therapy, and 95 percent of those receiving ART having suppressed viral loads by 2030.

“Since the start of the second Trump administration, however, it has undergone major disruptions,” added the International AIDS Society.

Eswatini is among the African countries that have received doses of lenacapavir, a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug that users inject twice a year, through PEPFAR since the Trump-Vance administration took office.

The White House last month announced it will end PEPFAR funding for South Africa.

President Ronald Reagan in 1985 implemented the global gag rule, also known as the “Mexico City” policy, that banned U.S. foreign aid for groups that support abortion and/or offer abortion-related services. The Trump-Vance administration earlier this year expanded the prohibition to include groups that promote “gender ideology” and support gender-affirming care and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

The International AIDS Society in its press release notes 52 percent of “all implementing partners had at least once terminated award,” while 77 percent of them “had been asked to restrict their work to comply with an additional U.S. policy.” The International AIDS Society notes 1,010 public health facilities, 325 “access points” and 126 “drop-in centers” around the world have closed because of U.S. funding cuts.

“Science is moving fast, giving us more powerful HIV prevention and treatment tools. But these advances cannot save lives if they never reach the people who need them,” said International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn, who co-chairs AIDS 2026 and is the director of Rio de Janeiro’s Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infection Diseases’ HIV/AIDS Clinical Research Unit. “That requires robust, stable financing and steadfast political commitment.”

Polish President Karol Nawrocki on July 17 vetoed bills that would have extended rights to same-sex couples.

Reuters reported Nawrocki rejected two measures that would have allowed same-sex couples who live together to enter into “cohabitation contracts.” Reuters noted the bills would have allowed same-sex couples to make decisions on issues that include access to medical information, property rights, and burial.

The country’s coalition government backed the bills that MPs approved. Nawrocki, a socially conservative Catholic, in a statement said they “create a new, formalized institution of family law, ​equipped with a broad catalogue of rights similar to those of marriage.”

“As the guardian of the Constitution, I cannot accept a solution that would lead to the loss of the ‌special ⁠status of marriage, defined in Article 18 of the Constitution as a union of a man and a woman under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland,” said Nawrocki, as Reuters noted.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk sharply criticized Nawrocki.

Miko Czerwiński of the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ+ advocacy group, in a statement noted nearly 80 percent of Poles “believe that the status of same-sex couples should be protected.”

“Once again, the voice of society has proven irrelevant to those in power,” said Czerwiński. “We are not willing to accept this. We will continue working towards full marriage equality.”

The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg last November ruled in favor of a same-sex couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage. Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court in March reaffirmed the decision.

The couple, who lives in Poland, brought their case to Polish courts in 2019. The Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.

The Polish government in May announced it will recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other EU countries. Tusk, for his part, apologized to same-sex couples for the “years of rejection and humiliation” they suffered because Poland did not recognize their relationships.

“We will continue working towards full marriage equality,” said Czerwiński in response to Nawrocki’s vetoes. “We will not allow years of work by non-governmental organizations, activists, and our entire community to be wasted.”

India’s Supreme Court is expected to issue a closely watched constitutional ruling that could shape the future of LGBTQ+ rights litigation. 

The decision will determine whether courts can continue to rely on the doctrine of constitutional morality, a principle that has underpinned several landmark rights decisions. During hearings in April, the Indian government urged the Supreme Court to reject the doctrine, arguing that it has no basis in the Constitution and should not guide judicial decision-making.

For years, the Supreme Court has relied on the constitutional morality doctrine to treat the Constitution as a living document: one whose enduring promises of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity must be applied to the realities of a changing society rather than remain frozen in the era in which it was written.

The Indian government in April asked the Supreme Court to revisit the constitutional reasoning behind two landmark judgments: one that struck down the country’s adultery law and another that decriminalized consensual same-sex relations, arguing that both relied on a subjective invocation of constitutional morality and should no longer be treated as good law.

Arguing before a 9-judge bench considering constitutional questions referred from the Supreme Court’s 2018 Sabarimala temple case, which allowed women of menstruating age to enter one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines after a centuries-old ban, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, India’s second-highest law officer, argued that “constitutional morality” has no textual basis in the Constitution and is instead a judicially evolved concept that is vague and indeterminate.

Mehta said the government did not oppose the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 497 of the Indian penal code, which criminalized adultery, if it was based on Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws. Instead, he argued that the court should not have relied on what he described as the “vague and subjective” doctrine of constitutional morality to reach its conclusion.

Mehta told the Supreme Court that its 2018 Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India ruling that decriminalized consensual same-sex relations wrongly equated “morality” with majoritarian or mob morality while relying on constitutional morality as the basis for its reasoning.

To support his argument against relying on constitutional morality, Mehta quoted extensively from then-Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas. 

Scalia argued that courts should not import foreign legal trends or allow evolving social values to drive constitutional interpretation, contending that judges must remain neutral arbiters rather than participants in broader cultural debates.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in Navtej Singh Johar and Joseph Shine, Mehta questioned whether the judgments reflected the constitutional vision of India’s founding generation. 

“If these judgments, Navtej Johar, Joseph Shine, etc., were to be read by Dr. Ambedkar or Kanhaiyalal Munshi or Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, I do not know whether they would be surprised, shocked or they would say that this is what we wanted. I believe, they did not want this to happen,” he told the bench.

“A new trend starts, which is Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT of Delhi,” Mehta said. “This is the judgment of Delhi High Court which was ultimately affirmed in Navtej Johar, sodomy … ‘In our scheme of things, constitutional morality must outweigh the argument of public morality, even if it be the majoritarian view.’ In case of a country governed by democratic principles, the view which is always majoritarian will prevail. When it is question of testing a law, it is always the majority which passes the law. How can you define morality based on this?”

The Naz Foundation case marked the beginning of a landmark constitutional challenge to Section 377 of the Indian penal code, a colonial-era provision that criminalized consensual same-sex relations between adults as “against the order of nature.” The public interest litigation, filed in 2001 by the Naz Foundation, an NGO working on HIV/AIDS and sexual health, argued that the law violated fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution. 

In 2009, the Delhi High Court ruled in the organization’s favor, holding that Section 377 violated the rights to equality under Article 14, protection against discrimination under Article 15, and life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Delhi High Court’s ruling was short-lived. 

In 2013, the Supreme Court, in Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation overturned the decision, recriminalizing homosexuality under Section 377. 

The court held that the law affected only a “minuscule fraction” of the population and said it was for Parliament — not the judiciary — to decide whether the provision should remain on the statute books. Five years later, the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench in Navtej Singh Johar, unanimously overruled its 2013 judgment, holding that Section 377 was unconstitutional. The decision marked the culmination of the Naz Foundation’s long legal challenge to the colonial-era provision.

Anish Gawande, the first openly gay person to serve as a national spokesperson for a major political party in India, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), told the Los Angeles Blade that the doctrine of constitutional morality, which he said underpinned not only Navtej Singh Johar but also forms one of the foundational principles of India’s constitutional jurisprudence, is “an incredibly important concept.”

“It provides a moral backbone to the document in a way that prevents any amendments to the Constitution from being out into place that would violate the very ethos upon which the Constitution was framed,” Gawande said. “Constitutional morality is an incredibly important antidote to societal morality. It’s been what has allowed us to clamp down on things like dowry. It’s been something that has allowed us to bar even regressive religious practices that might go against human dignity. It’s also been an incredibly important framework that has allowed for the advancement of LGBTQ rights in opposition to arguments made by practitioners and leaders of various religious denominations about the societal immorality of queerness.” 

“The most critical part of constitutional morality, which is a doctrine that has been put in place by the courts, is that it is a very effective bulwark against majoritarianism and the unilateral diktat of the executive over the judiciary and, in some ways, also the legislature,” he added.

Gawande said those factors make constitutional morality “an incredibly important concept” in Indian constitutional jurisprudence. 

If the Supreme Court were ultimately to narrow or reject the doctrine, he said, judgments that have relied on constitutional morality, including the landmark Navtej Singh Johar ruling could come under renewed scrutiny. He added, however, that he did not believe the Supreme Court would take that step because it would run contrary to its own institutional interests.

Gawande said the government has advanced several reasons for challenging the doctrine of constitutional morality. One of them, he said, is that the solicitor general has opposed the doctrine in cases involving religious issues, arguing that courts should not rely on it in constitutional adjudication. 

“The downward repercussions of this, however, could extend to LGBTQ rights and to the rights of all sorts of persecuted minorities in the future,” he said.

“The second thing is that, in principle, the section 377 judgment, of course, rests upon constitutional morality, but it is also resting upon so many other fundamental rights, including the right to privacy that Puttuswamy upheld before the Navtej Singh Johar verdict,” Gawande added. “In Navtej, the right to privacy was also cited as an incredibly important condition upon which the decriminalization of ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ could be permitted. In many ways, the fact that Section 377 does not exist on the statute books at all in the present updated penal codes, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, provides some respite. The entry of Section 377, at least immediately after a reading down of constitutional morality, is not imminent yet. However, it opens the door for a new Section 377 to be introduced and the judicial mechanism available to counter that new section 377, if it were to be introduced, to be reduced significantly.”

Ankit Bhupatani, an LGBTQ+ activist, said he does not believe the Supreme Court’s reconsideration of constitutional morality would lead to the recriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations. 

He argued the 2018 Navtej Singh Johar decision rests on multiple constitutional principles beyond constitutional morality, but warned that weakening the doctrine could make it more difficult to secure future LGBTQ+ rights through the courts.

“If we have to take an informed guess on why the government does not like the concept of constitutional morality, it is because it wants a narrower field of judicial review and an elected legislature restored as the primary author of social policy,” Bhupatani said. “But we have already seen parliament’s ability to make laws related to LGBT rights, and it does not give optimism.” 

“The only practical way forward for LGBT rights in India is the judiciary,” he added. “But if the government’s argument is accepted by the Supreme Court, it means the next gay Indian who walks into a court for marriage, for adoption, for inheritance, or for a job they were fired from, finds it more difficult to secure these rights from the only institution from which we could hope for a positive outcome.”

Bhupatani said the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations would probably survive because the Navtej Singh Johar judgment also rests on the constitutional principles of privacy and equality. However, he warned that weakening the doctrine of constitutional morality could stall broader progress for LGBTQ+ rights. 

“The community keeps the floor and loses the staircase,” he said. “Nobody is criminalized, but nobody moves up.”

“The clever thing about this is that it lets the government have it both ways. To its so-called base, who think that making the law, especially on social issues, is the work of elected parliamentarians and not judges,” said Bhupatani. “It signals that the 2018 verdict was a judicial overreach that ought never to have happened. To everyone else, truthfully, that it never asked to recriminalize anyone. Both messages, one filing.”

Bhupatani said the implications of the government’s position extend beyond LGBTQ+ rights, arguing that asking the Supreme Court to treat the reasoning in Navtej Singh Johar as “not good law” raises broader questions about India’s commitment to constitutional rights. He said such a move could also affect how India’s constitutional democracy is perceived internationally.

Advocacy groups have joined the relief efforts in Venezuela after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated large swaths of the country on June 24.

The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes caused widespread damage in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, and elsewhere in the country.

Officials in the South American country say the earthquakes killed more than 4,500 people and left more than 16,000 others injured. La Guaira state on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast in which the country’s main international airport is located is one of the hardest hit areas.

Yonatan Matheus, a Venezuelan LGBTQ+ rights activist who currently lives in the U.S., was born and raised in La Guaira.

He wrote on his website that relatives and close friends who still live in the state have lost their homes. Matheus in his post that the Los Angeles Blade published on Monday also said the earthquakes killed two gay men he knew.

“Their names reminded me that behind every statistic lie stories, personal bonds, and life plans,” he wrote. “They also made me think of all those people whose lives and deaths are unlikely to make headlines — especially those who lived on the margins for years, with little visibility and without full recognition of their dignity.”

“They reminded me that emergencies never affect everyone equally,” added Matheus. “Those already facing greater vulnerability often bear an even heavier burden during the recovery process.”

The earthquakes struck less than six months after American forces seized then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas during an overnight operation.

Maduro and Flores on Jan. 5 pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York. The Venezuelan National Assembly the day before swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president.

Hugo Chávez died in 2013, and Maduro succeeded him as Venezuela’s president. Subsequent economic and political crises prompted millions of Venezuelans to leave the country.

Rodríguez has faced criticism over the Venezuelan government’s response to the earthquakes.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation Latin America Bureau Chief Patricia Campos in a message she sent to Michael Weinstein, the group’s president, on June 29 described the government’s response as “uncoordinated, poor, and delayed, influenced by political interests.”

“The number of fatalities continues to rise, and many shelters have been set up in public spaces to help those in need,” said Campos. “Hospitals and morgues are working tirelessly beyond their capacity, demonstrating the community’s resilience. Fortunately, international rescue teams have arrived, offering much-needed assistance to recover those still trapped in the debris.”

AHF has clinics in Cúcuta, a Colombian city that is a few miles from the country’s border with Venezuela, and elsewhere in Colombia.

Campos told Weinstein that AHF Colombia “has been communicating with” more than half of the 1,080 “of our patients in care who live in Venezuela.” Campos also noted AHF relief supplies arrived in Venezuela with the 11/13 Foundation, another NGO, and they had been distributed.

New York-based AID FOR AIDS International, an HIV/AIDS service organization that works in Venezuela, has launched an earthquake relief fund.

The Venezuela Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund has thus far raised $55,893.39. It hopes to raise $250,000.

“All donations will go directly to our network of local partners on the ground in Venezuela, who are working to assess the most urgent needs and provide emergency support to affected communities — including but not limited to medicines, food, water, and shelter,” says AID FOR AIDS International.

The group adds “the scale of destruction is the greatest challenge.”

“La Guaira has been catastrophically damaged, and Caracas continues to deteriorate — with looting, businesses closing due to insecurity, widespread power outages, and hospitals overwhelmed with injured patients but critically lacking supplies,” it says. “Reaching affected communities quickly and safely is not easy under these conditions.”

“Our challenge is immediacy,” added AID FOR AIDS International, which is working with its colleagues in Venezuela and students at the country’s Universidad Central de Venezuela who are part of the relief efforts. “Through the strategic partnerships we have already established with trusted organizations on the ground in Venezuela, we are positioned to mobilize resources directly and efficiently, ensuring that every dollar reaches the families in the affected areas.”

Other groups, such as Venezolanos en Barranquilla, which is based in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, have also joined the relief effort.

Barranquilla Vice President Juan Carlos Viloria in an interview with the Washington Post accused the Venezuelan government of “systematic negligence” by restricting “access to the most affected zones.” Venezolanos en Barranquilla nevertheless continues to work with the Catholic Church and other NGOs to mobilize rescue workers and to facilitate the distribution of food, water, generators, and other items in La Guaira and Caracas.

“Despite this situation, we are continuing to do everything for our people,” Viloria told the Blade last week.

Mexico’s first openly gay mayor was killed last week.

Media reports indicate former Fresnillo Mayor Benjamín Medrano was shot to death on July 7 inside an ice cream store in Guadalajara, the country’s second-largest city that is located in Jalisco state.

Fresnillo is a city in Zacatecas state.

Medrano, 59, in 2013 became Mexico’s first openly gay mayor. He represented Zacatecas’s First Federal Electoral District in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Mexican Congress, from 2015-2018.

Medrano in 2017 was among the elected officials from across Latin America and the Caribbean who attended a conference in the Dominican Republic that focused on bolstering LGBTQ+ and intersex political engagement in the region. The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute is among the groups that organized the gathering.

Medrano after he left office faced accusations that he embezzled more than 60 million pesos ($3,443,101.20) in public funds when he was president of the Zacatecas National Fair’s Board of Trustees.

La Voz de Fresnillo, a Fresnillo newspaper, reported Medrano did not have any identification with him when he was shot. A relative identified him two days later.

State and federal authorities have not announced a potential motive. They have also not made any arrests in connection with Medrano’s murder.

Anti-LGBTQ+ violence and kidnappings are commonplace in Mexico.

A gay couple from the U.S. were among four people found dead in a mass grave outside Mexico City last month.

Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in February set fire to cars and buses in Puerto Vallarta, a resort city in Jalisco state that is a popular destination for LGBTQ+ tourists from the U.S., after Mexican forces killed its powerful leader.

Puerto Vallarta is roughly 180 miles west of Guadalajara.

El 24 de junio de 2026, dos terremotos sacudieron Venezuela y alteraron la vida de miles de personas en cuestión de segundos. Para gran parte del mundo fue una noticia que ocupó titulares durante algunos días. Para quienes nacimos allí, el tiempo pareció detenerse. Antes de pensar en la magnitud del sismo o en el número de viviendas afectadas, hubo una pregunta que desplazó cualquier otra: ¿estarán bien quienes amo?

Los desastres naturales no solo transforman los territorios; también modifican la manera en que quienes vivimos en el exilio nos relacionamos con el lugar al que seguimos llamando hogar. La distancia no reduce el dolor ni la preocupación por quienes permanecen allí. Cada llamada sin responder, cada fotografía y cada mensaje recuerdan que existen vínculos que sobreviven a las fronteras, al tiempo y a la propia migración.

Lo primero que hice fue llamar a mi familia en La Guaira. Durante esos minutos comprendí, una vez más, que también existen terremotos que se sienten desde el exilio. La incertidumbre crece con cada llamada que no entra y con cada mensaje que permanece sin respuesta.

Cuando finalmente logré comunicarme, confirmé que familiares y personas cercanas habían perdido sus hogares, que distintas zonas de La Guaira enfrentaban graves afectaciones y que comunidades como Carayaca, El Junko y otros sectores del oeste del estado también sufrían las consecuencias de los terremotos. Aunque algunas de estas localidades registraron daños estructurales de menor magnitud que las zonas más devastadas, sus habitantes también vieron alterada su vida cotidiana por la interrupción de servicios, las dificultades de acceso y la profunda interdependencia social, económica y comunitaria que caracteriza a La Guaira.

Algunos miembros de mi comunidad también habían fallecido. Entre ellos estaban dos hombres gays a quienes conocía. Sus nombres me recordaron que detrás de cada cifra existen historias, afectos y proyectos de vida. También me hicieron pensar en todas aquellas personas cuyas vidas y muertes difícilmente ocuparán un titular, especialmente quienes durante años vivieron en los márgenes, con escasa visibilidad y sin el pleno reconocimiento de su dignidad. Me recordaron, además, que las emergencias nunca afectan a todas las personas por igual y que quienes ya enfrentaban mayores condiciones de vulnerabilidad suelen soportar una carga aún más pesada durante la recuperación. 

El país del que uno sale nunca desaparece

Nací y crecí en La Guaira. Allí permanecen buena parte de mi historia, mi familia, mis amistades y una comunidad que sigue formando parte de quien soy. Hace diez años tuve que salir de Venezuela y solicitar asilo en Estados Unidos como consecuencia de la persecución que enfrenté por ser un hombre gay y defensor de derechos humanos. Con el tiempo comprendí que el exilio no consiste únicamente en cambiar de país. También significa aprender a vivir con la certeza de que una parte de nosotros permanecerá siempre en el lugar del que tuvimos que partir.

Cada celebración familiar, cada crisis y cada tragedia confirman que seguimos perteneciendo a ese territorio. Las personas refugiadas y migrantes no dejamos de vivir las emergencias de nuestros países de origen; simplemente las vivimos de otra manera. Mientras otras personas pueden desplazarse para abrazar a sus familias o participar directamente en las labores de ayuda, quienes estamos lejos intentamos acompañar desde la incertidumbre, con la impotencia de saber que el corazón permanece donde el cuerpo ya no puede estar.

Quizá esa sea una de las dimensiones menos visibles del desplazamiento forzado. Vivimos las tragedias de nuestro país a la distancia, con menos posibilidades de actuar físicamente, pero con el mismo dolor y con un profundo sentido de responsabilidad hacia las personas y los lugares que siguen formando parte de nuestra historia.

Cuando una casa representa toda una vida

Después de una emergencia suele repetirse una frase bien intencionada: “Lo importante es que todos están vivos; lo material se recupera.” Aunque busca transmitir esperanza, también puede invisibilizar una realidad profundamente humana. En Venezuela, una vivienda rara vez representa únicamente una construcción. Es el resultado de años de trabajo, sacrificios compartidos y sueños familiares. En sus paredes también habitan recuerdos, fotografías, documentos y la memoria de quienes la construyeron.

Cuando un terremoto destruye un hogar, también altera el proyecto de vida de una familia. Por eso no basta con volver a levantar edificios. Es necesario crear las condiciones para que las personas recuperen estabilidad, seguridad y la posibilidad de imaginar nuevamente un futuro. Como trabajador social, estoy convencido de que los territorios no vuelven a ponerse de pie únicamente con cemento. También necesitan confianza, organización, apoyo mutuo y espacios donde las personas puedan elaborar el duelo y fortalecer nuevamente sus redes de apoyo.

Ese proceso tampoco ocurre en igualdad de condiciones para todas las personas. Los desastres suelen profundizar desigualdades que ya existían antes de la emergencia. Las personas adultas mayores, la niñez, las personas con discapacidad, quienes viven con enfermedades crónicas o con VIH y muchas personas LGBTQ+, especialmente aquellas que enfrentan pobreza, discriminación o redes de apoyo limitadas, suelen encontrar mayores obstáculos para acceder a servicios, restablecer sus medios de vida o volver a sentirse seguras. Una respuesta verdaderamente humanitaria no consiste únicamente en llegar primero; consiste en asegurar que nadie quede atrás cuando comienza el largo camino para reconstruir su vida. 

Cuando la emergencia deja de ser noticia

Las primeras horas después de un desastre suelen despertar lo mejor de una sociedad. Vecinas y vecinos organizan rescates, personas voluntarias distribuyen alimentos, equipos de salud trabajan sin descanso y miles de ciudadanos, dentro y fuera del país, buscan la manera de ayudar. Esa movilización espontánea representa uno de los recursos más valiosos frente a cualquier crisis y demuestra que, incluso en contextos de profunda polarización, la vida humana sigue siendo capaz de convocar encuentros.

Sin embargo, para quienes sobrevivieron, el verdadero desafío apenas comienza cuando la emergencia deja de ocupar los titulares. Mientras los medios dirigen su atención hacia otras noticias y las donaciones disminuyen, miles de familias siguen intentando recuperar sus hogares, restablecer sus medios de vida y reorganizar una cotidianidad profundamente alterada. La crisis termina mucho antes para la opinión pública que para quienes continúan enfrentando sus consecuencias.

En la acción humanitaria suele describirse un fenómeno conocido como fatiga de la compasión. En términos generales, hace referencia a la disminución progresiva de la atención pública y de parte de la movilización solidaria conforme una crisis deja de ocupar el centro de la conversación. No significa que desaparezca la voluntad de ayudar, sino que nuevas urgencias desplazan rápidamente a las anteriores. El riesgo es que los territorios afectados queden solos precisamente cuando enfrentan la etapa más compleja de volver a levantarse.

Las principales organizaciones humanitarias recuerdan que reparar edificios constituye sólo una parte del proceso. También es indispensable fortalecer la salud mental, ofrecer apoyo psicosocial, recuperar el tejido comunitario y garantizar que la población participe activamente en las decisiones sobre su propio futuro. Una vivienda puede reconstruirse en algunos meses; recuperar la sensación de seguridad, la confianza o el sentido de pertenencia suele requerir mucho más tiempo.

Esta realidad resulta especialmente importante para quienes ya enfrentan condiciones de vulnerabilidad antes del terremoto. Las personas adultas mayores, la niñez, las personas con discapacidad, quienes viven con VIH y muchas personas LGBTQ+ suelen encontrar mayores barreras para acceder a servicios, mantener sus tratamientos, recuperar sus ingresos o reconstruir sus redes de apoyo. Las emergencias no crean esas desigualdades, pero con frecuencia las hacen más visibles y profundas. Por eso, una recuperación verdaderamente sostenible no consiste únicamente en volver al punto donde estábamos antes del desastre, sino en aprovechar ese proceso para reducir brechas históricas y fortalecer la inclusión.

Como trabajador social, prefiero hablar de una resiliencia consciente. No de una resiliencia que exige fortaleza permanente o invita a ocultar el dolor bajo la idea de que “hay que seguir adelante”, sino de aquella que reconoce las pérdidas, entiende que el duelo necesita tiempo y acepta que pedir ayuda también forma parte del camino. Ninguna comunidad debería sentirse obligada a reconstruirse sola, ni ninguna persona a demostrar que ya superó una tragedia antes de estar preparada para hacerlo.

Permanecer también es una forma de ayudar

El exilio me impidió estar físicamente en La Guaira durante los días posteriores a los terremotos, pero no me impidió asumir la responsabilidad de acompañar desde donde hoy me encuentro. Durante esas semanas utilicé mis plataformas para verificar información antes de compartirla, visibilizar localidades que históricamente han recibido menor atención —como Carayaca, El Junko y otros sectores del oeste del estado— y promover mensajes centrados en las necesidades de la población afectada.

Ese compromiso también dio origen a la serie documental La Guaira: Antes y Después, un esfuerzo por documentar cómo cambiaron distintos espacios y contribuir a que no desaparezcan de la memoria colectiva cuando termine la cobertura periodística. Más que registrar la destrucción, busca recordar que detrás de cada fotografía existen familias que seguirán necesitando apoyo mucho después de que las cámaras se hayan ido.

Creo profundamente que comunicar con responsabilidad también es una forma de acción humanitaria. Verificar antes de publicar, evitar la desinformación y mantener visibles a los territorios históricamente olvidados constituye una manera concreta de acompañar el proceso de recuperación y fortalecer el compromiso colectivo desde la distancia.

La solidaridad que decide quedarse

Los terremotos del 24 de junio de 2026 dejarán cicatrices visibles en edificios, carreteras y viviendas. Otras permanecerán en silencio, acompañando a familias que deberán reconstruir no solo sus hogares, sino también su sensación de seguridad, sus proyectos de vida y la confianza en el futuro.

Como venezolano, guaireño, refugiado y defensor de derechos humanos, esta experiencia reforzó una convicción que ha guiado buena parte de mi trabajo: las personas deben permanecer en el centro de cualquier respuesta humanitaria. Ninguna diferencia política, institucional o ideológica debería ser más importante que proteger la vida, aliviar el sufrimiento y garantizar que quienes enfrentan mayores condiciones de vulnerabilidad reciban el acompañamiento que necesitan para volver a empezar con dignidad.

Los terremotos dejan de sentirse cuando la tierra deja de temblar. El olvido comienza cuando dejamos de mirar. Entre una cosa y otra existe un largo camino que exige memoria, compromiso sostenido y la decisión colectiva de no abandonar a quienes siguen intentando levantarse cuando el resto del mundo ya ha seguido adelante. Porque una sociedad no termina de recuperarse cuando reconstruye sus edificios; lo hace cuando todas las personas tienen la oportunidad de volver a vivir con seguridad, esperanza y la certeza de que nadie quedó atrás.

Yonatan Matheus (He/Him/Él) es defensor de derechos humanos LGBTQ+ y trabajador social y activista. Trabaja en la intersección entre Migración, Justicia Social y respuesta al VIH.

Este comentario salió en el sitio web de Yonatan el 6 de julio.

Egyptian authorities have refused to allow a gay cruise to dock in the country.

The Scarlet Lady, a Virgin Voyages ship that Atlantis Events chartered, was to have docked in Alexandria, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. The Los Angeles Blade obtained a letter that Atlantis Events President Rich Campbell sent to passengers on Thursday, hours before the cruise was to have arrived.

“Early this morning, we were informed that Scarlet Lady has been denied entry into Egyptian waters and, as a result, will no longer be able to call in Alexandria today,” he wrote.

“I know how much this visit meant to so many of you,” added Campbell. “We successfully sailed a similar itinerary last year, so we were surprised by this unfortunate decision.”

Campbell noted “both the Atlantis and Virgin Voyages teams worked tirelessly to make this call in Alexandria a possibility.”

“This news came as a surprise to all of us, and we’re just as disappointed as you are,” he said.

The 10-day cruise left Athens on July 5. It is scheduled to end in Trieste, Italy, on July 15.

The ship had been scheduled to dock in Kusadasi, a Turkish resort town on the Aegean Sea, and Istanbul earlier this week. Turkish authorities refused to allow it in the country.

Former Tempe, Ariz., Mayor Neil Giuliano, who is an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute board member, is among those on the cruise.

“Just a few hours before arriving in Alexandria, Egypt — a city founded by and named for one of the ancient world’s best-known homosexuals — government authorities rescinded permission for our ship of 2,000 gay men to enter Egypt,” wrote Steve May, who is also on the ship, on Thursday in a Facebook post.

Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 B.C.

“As with Turkey, we have been sent away not because of what we did, but because of who we said we are,” said May. “‘I am what I am’ is too much liberty for some to bear. So it was in the United States as well not long ago, where even I ended up as a convicted homosexual after a military trial in 2001 for saying ‘I am gay.’ This is just a reminder that for all the progress we have made, our freedom is never secure — for any of us, regardless of who or how we love. Back to Europe!”

Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt. The Egyptian Football Association, along with the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, objected to playing in the World Cup’s “Pride Match” that took place in Seattle on June 26.